Dog A.I.D. Assistance In Disability

Dog A.I.D. are an accredited assistance dog charity here in the UK. Established locally in 1992 in the Midlands. The aim of the charity is to help to provide training and support to physically disabled people, for training their own pet dogs as assistance dogs.

I’m proud to be a volunteer dog trainer for Dog A.I.D. and over the last two years I have been helping multiple disabled clients in the Cannock Chase area to learn the skills needed to teach their dogs to help them with physical tasks at home, such as emptying the washing machine or fetching the post. And skills such as walking calmly next to a wheelchair, picking up their lead and settling in a cafe.

My journey at Dog A.I.D. began over 15 years ago as a client myself. I was a teenager struggling with my disabilities, when I found a dog training class locally that was helping disabled people to train their own pet dogs. Joining Dog A.I.D. helped me to build confidence, develop new skills, make friends and feel part of the community again.

Dog A.I.D. also started my passion for understanding and learning about dogs, and a new dream to one day become a dog trainer. Dog A.I.D. had introduced me to the work of Turid Rugaas, and her philosophy and understanding of dogs had a massive impact on my relationships with my animals. Turid had supported the charity in its early days and mentored some of the trainers that I was lucky enough to be taught by.

Life’s ups and downs took me down a different path for many years and again I lost my confidence due to further complications with my health, but I still had a strong emotional connection to the Nordic approach of understanding and communicating with our dogs.

Fast forward to today and I finally made it! I’m a qualified dog behaviourist and

I’m currently an international student, studying further qualifications based on the work of Turid Rugaas, at Nordic Education Centre For Ethical Dog Trainers.

I used Turid’s teachings to raise my current working assistance dog, Harmony, who has just passed her Dog A.I.D. accreditation and I’m currently bringing Nordic methods and philosophy back into the Dog A.I.D. program and with my own disabled clients in my private business, here on Cannock Chase.

I’m so grateful to both Dog A.I.D. and now the Nordic Community for providing such a safe, happy and positive space for me to gain confidence, to learn, grow and thrive despite my disability. I love being a dog trainer, and I love helping my clients by teaching them the skills to gain independence and confidence too alongside their dogs, just like I did with my first dog Buddy at Dog A.I.D.

Dog A.I.D. continue to help physically disabled clients all over the UK 🇬🇧 you can find out more about the charity here dogaid.org.uk

And for more information about Nordic Dog Trainer check out their website and fantastic free resources for caring for your dog https://www.nordicdogtrainer.com